Practice Areas

Says Issue Reinforces Need for Companies in Health Care Arena to be “Fully Transparent” to Individuals

August 30, 2013

Kathrin E. Kudner, an
Ann Arbor-based member in Dykema’s Health Care Practice Group who focuses her
practice on representing health care providers and payors in various corporate
and regulatory matters, is quoted in an article—“CVS Makes A HIPAA Mess With Murky
Rewards Program”—that appears in the August 28, 2013 issue of Law360, the leading online provider of
news and analysis on business law.

The article discusses
the recent controversy about a CVS program, CVS’s ExtraCare Pharmacy and Health
Rewards initiative, which reportedly provides a financial incentive to
customers in exchange for their consent for CVS to use their personal health
information. Opponents of the CVS program have raised issues whether the
program violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA).

Kudner is unable to
evaluate the compliance of the CVS program without knowing all the facts but
commented that the matter underscores the importance for health care companies
not only to be fully compliant with HIPAA but to provide full disclosure and
transparency with the individuals they serve.

“Companies should
always make sure that patients are fully informed of what’s happening to their
data,” Kudner advises. “The more transparent you are to an individual means the
more informed their authorization is, and the less likely they are going to be
to challenge what you do.”